How coronavirus fight is being compounded by austerity and NHS staff shortages

From: John van der Gucht, Clayton Hall Road, Cross Hills.
Has austerity compromised the Government's response to the coronavirus pandemic?Has austerity compromised the Government's response to the coronavirus pandemic?
Has austerity compromised the Government's response to the coronavirus pandemic?
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Coronavirus sends horse racing behind closed doors

TIME, and the benefit of hindsight, will tell whether the Government has adopted the right strategy to cope with the coronavirus that threatens to engulf the country.

In a way, it could not have happened at a worse time, coinciding with but also accelerating a downturn in economies worldwide, and liable to damage our already weakened economy, and with the Brexit trade deal talks barely under way.

Boris Johnson is under pressure over the Government's response to coronavirus.Boris Johnson is under pressure over the Government's response to coronavirus.
Boris Johnson is under pressure over the Government's response to coronavirus.
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The PM very successfully distanced himself and his party from the last 10 years of austerity in order to get his thumping majority.

But there is a strong risk that the effects of those years of austerity on the NHS specifically will now come back to bite him, given that hospitals are already under considerable strain.

Because people are already infectious before developing symptoms, the likelihood of it rapidly spreading is almost a certainty.

From: John Riseley, Harcourt Drive, Harrogate.

Supermarkets like Tesco have seen a surge in panic buying over coronavirus.Supermarkets like Tesco have seen a surge in panic buying over coronavirus.
Supermarkets like Tesco have seen a surge in panic buying over coronavirus.

IT is arguable whether the cost of precautions against the spread of coronavirus is proportionate to the number of lives they will save. Whether one will feel in retrospect that we got the balance right may depend upon one’s relationship to those who die.

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Yet, even if this epidemic is less severe than expected, we always face the possibility of one so devastating as to justify the most draconian of measures to hold it at bay. There may have been people saying “We mustn’t interfere with trade” as the Black Death approached, but we know they soon had reason to regret this. It would be useful to treat our current situation as a rehearsal for such an event.

We need to develop the mental or moral preparedness to impose and accept a clampdown on international travel which is early and hard, even if the alarm may prove to be false. Otherwise we will be behind the game, waiting for public opinion to catch up and run ahead when it is too late.

Anyone who claims to agree with Greta Thunberg can hardly object to an occasional downturn in economic growth.

From: Michael Green, Tingley.

I HAD been quite impressed until now with the way in which those governing us have dealt with the coronavirus outbreak and the response to it. Restrained, based on scientific evidence.

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So why on earth has Boris Johnson now gone and spoilt it by speaking (The Yorkshire Post, March 13) of “families going to lose loved ones before their time”. That’s nothing but hysteria. And it really doesn’t help. And, by the way, can somebody remind us how many deaths there are from flu in a normal winter? We don’t get hysterical about that. Just pointing a contrast, that’s all.

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

IT is for sure that Boris Johnson is no Winston Churchill. He tells us that thousands will lose loved ones and, thereby, brings another dose of doom and gloom as if we hadn’t had enough through Brexit.

Churchill would have rallied us by invoking a fighting spirit in our war with coronavirus. Not so Boris as he makes no move to ban large gatherings or close any venues. We can only hope that we are not the ones to lose close relatives and we, ourselves, have enough Churchillian spirit.

From: Keith Jowett, Woodland Rise, Silkstone College, Barnsley.

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IN the light of reports about panic buying of toilet paper, may I be allowed to pass on a piece of priceless information, which contributed to the survival of my family and myself during the Second World War.

We found that pages of Radio Times torn in half and impaled on a suitable nail behind the toilet door served very adequately as a substitute for toilet paper. Indeed, by also providing a little reading material, it may have encouraged me to acquire the ability to read at an early age.